National Endowment for the Arts to Webcast National Council on the Arts Meeting

Friday, March 30, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.

Washington, DC —The 175th meeting of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body to the National Endowment for the Arts, will take place on Friday, March 30, 2012 from 9:00–11:30 a.m. EDT in room M-09 of The Nancy Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The public is invited to attend in person or to watch a live webcast at arts.gov.

The first presentation at the meeting will examine the NEA’s partnership with the Healing Arts Program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center/National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) as part of Operation Homecoming. Ron Capps, founder and director of the Veterans Writing Project, and Melissa S. Walker, creative arts therapist and healing arts program coordinator at NICoE, will discuss their work in integrating Operation Homecoming writing workshops into the formal medical protocol to help heal service members at NICoE.

Next, Dr. James Catterall, founder and principal investigator for the Centers for Research on Creativity, will present Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies. This newNEA study examines the positive outcomes associated with high levels of arts exposure for youth of low socioeconomic status.

Lastly, Jamie Bennett, the NEA’s Chief of Staff and Director of Public Affairs, will provide an overview of the NEA’s outreach to the public through weekly podcasts featuring interviews with artists, arts administrators, and creative thinkers, as well as the quarterly magazine NEA Arts. Each issue of NEA Arts explores a theme through articles and photographs highlighting exceptional artists, arts workers, artworks, organizations, and events across the country. Recent issues have examined innovation in the arts, the role of festivals in transforming communities, and the creative approaches rural communities have taken with the arts to help improve their communities socially, aesthetically, and economically.

Please note that the application and guidelines review and voting will take place at the beginning of the meeting on Friday.

About the National Council on the Arts

The National Council on the Arts is convened three times per year to vote on funding recommendations for grants and rejections; to advise the Chairman on application guidelines, the budget, and policy and planning directions; and to recommend to the President nominees for the National Medal of Arts. Including the Chairman, there are 14 members—James Ballinger, Miguel Campaneria, Ben Donenberg, Aaron Dworkin, JoAnn Falletta, Lee Greenwood, Joan Israelite, Charlotte Kessler, Bret Lott, Irvin Mayfield, Stephen Porter, Barbara Ernst Prey, Frank Price, and Terry Teachout; and six ex-officio members from Congress—Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and U.S. Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Patrick J. Tiberi (R-OH). Appointment by Majority and Minority leadership of the remaining two Members of Congress to the Council is pending. Visit arts.gov for more information about the National Council on the Arts and its members.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Artswas established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov.